Behind the curtains
by teaformaggie
Summary: Tess just needed a job. But who knows what can happen when you mix duties with love, especially when there is a band member involved?


_At this time of the year it was terribly cold in London: December brought constant icy rain that haven't quite formed into proper snow and northern wind that made every alive being want to find a hole somewhere and sleep till it got at least remotely warm. But no matter how cold it was outside, it couldn't have been any colder than at a tiny apartment on Palmer Pl, where two people stood facing each other, only 3 steps in between them. _

_She, cuddling into huge grey sweater that hang loose from her curvy body, had crossed her arms, defensive mechanism up. Her ice cold – even colder than the first snow outside – blue eyes resentfully stared at the man in front of her. He stood in the middle of the room, with his coat on, one hand gripping tight on a sport bag with this clothes messily stuffed in, the other clenched into the fist. He didn't look at her, but she didn't need it. She could easily picture his dark brown eyes filled with isolation. Neither of them knew what to do, everything that could have been said and done already had been and just look where they ended up. Now it was just the last moment before they went separated. _

_"__You should probably go," she finally spoke up. _

_Her distant voice that he wasn't used to made him hesitantly lift up his gaze from the floor and for one last time look at her face he now was leaving behind. It showed nothing. Beautiful in its coldness, framed with dark chocolate locks, her face was emotionless and distant. _

_"__Yeah," he nodded. _

_"__Sure you got all your stuff? So you don't have to come back to…"_

_"__I'm sure. I'm going to go now."_

_"__Right. Bye, Zayn."_

_"__Bye, Tess."_

_With that, he disappeared behind her, taking away all they had and could have had together. She didn't move to go after, only soft click of the closing door causing her to close eyes for a moment and dig nails into pale palms. She then went to lock the door. _

_When the slush started coating the ground half hour later, she still stood at the door, hand on the handle, forehead pressed against the hard wood. She couldn't cry, she couldn't move. Only stand there dumbfounded, realizing that the love of her life had gone, taking away everything she knew. Except for that grey sweater, she realized. Dammit. The sweater was Zayn's and now it was all she got._

When Tess Meller moved out of her mother's home, she didn't realize it would be so hard to live on her own. When mom was on everything, it looked easy, but now she had to pay way too much for a small apartment she rented with her friend Lizzy, and cook and work and study and it all turned out to be quite a task. Okay, maybe she didn't cook as much, rather having fast food, but the rest was still pain in the ass and took all of her time. But it was the life she wanted, all by herself, independent young girl reaching for the stars. Well, not really for the stars, at least Diploma in sociology for starters, but still, it was better than being stuck at home back in a little town in Northern England.

That morning Tess was late for work. The traffic was heavy: there had been some kind of accident on the main road and hundreds of cars now lined after each other, drivers impatiently honking and getting out from time to time, hoping to see how much longer they had to spend waiting. The buss Tess was in was in no better position, people in it complaining to each other about how much time it takes to get to their destination and how their bosses going to be mad. No one seemed to care about the accident where people might have gotten injured (no one did thought, later some newspaper wrote that one guy broke his hand and that was pretty much it). When Tess finally made it to little bakery she worked at, the owner, Mrs. Delvalle was already there and not in the best mood.

"You are late. Again," the woman spit out in her high-pitched scratchy voice.

"I am so sorry. It wasn't really my mistake, I just…"

"I don't want to hear any excuses. I've heard too many already." Mrs. Delvalle scanned Tess up and down from behind her glasses. "You are fired. I'll write you a paycheck and you can go."

"But…"

But old lady didn't care to hear anymore and just as she disappeared into her small office, her daughter Abby took her place at the register. She hesitantly smiled at Tess and lowered her eyes, pretending to be busy with something. Clearly, she felt bad, but as Tess watched her scramble on a little piece of paper, it all got clear. Abby, although she helped at the bakery quite a lot, didn't work there. Now she had a badge with her name on it and an apron. Mrs. Delvalle must have been waiting for her daughter to join her in their family business and Abby finally did. That's why Tess being late was made into such a big deal and she was fired. She wasn't needed anymore.

Comprehending all of this, Tess didn't notice Mrs. Delvalle handing her a pay check for the last month she worked there at first. Then, just as the annoyingly high voice came though, she grabbed the check and stormed out without a word. Well, she never liked old lady that much anyways.

Tess walked down the street and stopped at a little coffee shop to grab herself a latte before she can go home and make up a plan for the near future. Honestly, she boiled with anger, that's why she didn't smile at Kurt, pretty boy that served her every time she came here, and just threw cash at the counter. When the coffee was done and Kurt handed it over with worried look in his eyes, Tess felt guilt moving inside her. The boy had nothing to do with the fact that she got fired.

"Sorry. Bad morning," she said and left the shop before the guy could ask anything.

This August was surprisingly warm for London. Rains were only occasional thing, sun lighted up the sky every day and though it wasn't as hot as it was in July, you could still spot people in fountains. For Tess, it didn't matter. She walked home – screw the buses – on her own, her mood worse than ever. She was short on money lately and losing her job didn't make situation any better. She needed a new one and fast.

Her landlady Mrs. Delany was quite surprised when she nearly got hit by Tess storming angrily into the house. She only got lucky not to drop the laundry basket before she placed it on the floor and went upstairs right where Tess was headed to her room.

"Darling, what happened?" she asked worriedly seeing the girl fall face first to her bed.

Mrs. Delany, or rather Clare, because she was in her thirties and looked nothing like old bag of crap Mrs. Delvalle, carefully sat down next to Tess on her bed and gently patted girls back.

"What is it?"

Tess muttered something, but the pillow muffled the words.

"Well, that wasn't clear enough, dear. Try again."

Slowly, Tess lifted herself up and sat next to Clare. Woman gently wrapped her arm around Tess' shoulders.

"The Dragon fired me today."

The Dragon was a name for Mrs. Delvalle they used around the house: Tess, her roommate Lizzy and Clare talked about all kinds of thing and since Tess hated her boss, the name stuck.

"Oh, darling, I'm so sorry!"

"Nah, that's alright. Didn't like the job anyway. Maybe it's for the best."

"Well, I'm sure you can find something. I mean, it's London, there's plenty places to look. Maybe I can help you with it, too."

"Don't worry, Clare, I'm gonna be just fine. Just got a bit angry. Gone now. Thanks for your help."

"Sure. If I ever see someone offering a good job, I'm gonna call you, yeah?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

Clare smiled and freed Tess of her hold. She left the room and went away to complete the tasks she had been doing around the house. Clare was single stay-at-home-mom, only living off little money she made from renting the rooms in her house and getting some sort of payment for being a single parent. It wasn't much, but it was enough to support Kyle, her 5 years old son. With his huge brown eyes and golden locks, he was such a charm, no one could help but adore him. Tess and Lizzy helped Clare out sometimes by taking care of him: now, Tess decided, was good enough time since she didn't have anything to do anyways.

Like all kids his age, Kyle went to pre-school, but at days like this, when Clare wasn't extremely busy with work around the house (mind you, there was always something to do), she let him stay home and even play outside, because that way she could spend a bit more time with her son. Tess found Kyle in the small garden at the back of the house, playing some sort of game with lots of toys of different size and matter. All the toys were sat in circle around an old round garden table. Since Clare was now stuck with laundry, Tess decided to join in the boy and his team.

"Hey, little one," she smiled crouching down to his level. "What are you doing?"

"This is supah secret," he shushed. "We're busy."

"What is it you are busy with?" Tess whispered since she clearly was denied permission to talk loudly in such an important meeting.

"We're deciding who's gonna be next supah hero and save the city," the boy informed her patiently. "Like Iron Man, you know."

Tess made it a point to buy little guy an Iron Man action figure as soon as she gets her first payment from the job she's going to find. Kyle was so obsessed with this hero, he couldn't stop talking about him. And yeah, Iron Man was cool, even she couldn't argue with that.

"Have you reached the decision yet?"

"No. Mister Teddy is too big for the costume and solders aren't too_ super_ to be Iron Man. Dolly here can't be Iron Man, she's a girl."

"What, can't girl be heroes?"

"They can," Kyle shook his blond curls. "You could be a hero. But Iron Man is a man, isn't he? Dolly is like Superwoman."

Dolly was nothing like superwoman, mostly because she was old and scratched and broke in many places, half raven hair long since gone and one of the eyes never closing, but Kyle refused to let her go. She belonged in between his other toys.

"How about we let them decide and meanwhile go get some ice-cream?" Tess proposed.

"What kind of ice-cream?"

"Chocolate with syrup and crushed nuts," she winked.

Kyle smiled his toothless smile, showing off the emptiness where his front teeth should have been. He then leaned to Mister Teddy, whispered something in his almost ripped off ear and nodded to all the toys.

"They agree."

"Off we go then."

Tess stood up on her feet but before she did, brisk Kyle already made half his way to the house. They popped inside to inform Clare about their intentions and went away to the local little shop that was so conveniently placed just across the street. Before getting ice-cream, they decided to get some fish and chips from Chip Inn Fish Bar on Tess' favorite Holloway Street. The street itself was long and full of many little shops and, most importantly, it led right to London Metropolitan University she studied in.

While Tess entertained Kyle so he wouldn't get restless before they get their order, door to Chip Inn Fish Bar opened and closed, letting inside young gal with golden locks cascading to her waist. Head held high, she pierced around with her amazingly grey eyes and smiled when found what she was looking for.

"Tess!"

"Hey, Lizzy."

Lizzy, with her tightly fitting clothes, expensive-looking makeup and perfectly styled hair seemed so out of this poorly furnished place. It was as if model stood next to the dumpster, it just wasn't right. On the other hand, anything next to Lizzy seemed like a dumpster. Even Tess herself. In her plane blue shirt and black jeans, with hair quickly pulled into a messy bun, with no makeup whatsoever, Tess felt like a garbage bin next to her best friend.

"I am so hungry, I could die," Lizzy said. "Heeeey, my favorite boy in the world!"

Kyle run into Lizzy's open hands and let her peck him on both cheeks before finally returning to Tess and wrapping hands around her legs.

"Whatever they are having, I'll have. Thanks, Mike," blonde smiled to the guy at the register and turned back to her friend. "So, why are you free so early? Shouldn't you be working till around five?"

Tess told Lizzy the same story she told Clare, but Lizzy wasn't as calm and positive about it. She took her time with bashing The Dragon up and around and swore that old ass bitch (Tess had to cover Kyles ears quickly, but they made him promise he won't told he heard that word to his mom anyways) will regret that. Tess wasn't quite sure, but Lizzy was unstoppable.

While eating fish and chips, blonde mindlessly talked about her day: boss was on his holiday, co-workers joked around as always and after that Benny, Lizzy's boyfriend picked her up in his old Ford and brought her home. Honestly, Lizzy should have been driven around in a private limo, with her model looks, but in real life she was just a pretty girl shopping in second-hand stores, very much happy with sitting in an old car, heels off, singing along to any pop crap that was on the radio.

"Oh!" She suddenly exclaimed, making Tess drop one of her chips.

"What?"

"That gives me an idea. You know how Benny works at this stadium, whatever place?"

Benny worked at a concert hall. Lizzy's boyfriend was 24 years old, tall and fit, dark brown curls cascading to his shoulders, brown eyes behind square glasses and he worked at a concert hall as a sound check guy, always around celebrities that came in to rehears or record.

"Yeah, sure."

"So, he told me that someone recently quit for some reason, don't know, don't care. But what if you tried getting that job?"

"Well, I suppose I could, but if it requires higher education or something…"

"No, it's like a call-girl job. You run around, get coffee, bring stuff if asked, that sort of thing."

"Sounds okay. If Benny could…"

"Don't even worry about it," Lizzy smiled. "I'll call him later today, we'll get you at least an interview."

With that, Lizzy flashed her best smile and Tess nodded gratefully.

Later that night, after everyone had had their portion of promised ice-cream and Clare took Kyle to his room to spend a little time with the boy, Tess lied in her bed, not able to fall asleep, listening to the running water in the shower. Lizzy, who was there, hummed some song under her nose. This time it seemed like one of Selena Gomez's catchy tunes and before Tess knew it, same lyrics of 'Come and get me' started running in her head again and again.

Half an hour later, Lizzy was done with shower and appeared in her and Tess' room in short pajamas with pink pandas on it and a towel wrapped around her head in form of turban. With makeup completely gone, she didn't look as intimidating, but rather naturally cute.

"By the way, I called Benny," she said after plopping to her bed.

"And?"

"You can have the job if you start tomorrow."

Tess shot up, excited by the news.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"That is great!"

"And it gets better."

"How so?"

"You get to work with One Direction."


End file.
